Container



April 19, 1938- L. P. TOSCANO 2,114,823

CONTAINER Filed Jan. 22, 1937 VIII/1111101 w QflTbsc-A/vo. I

INVENTOR.

' H ATTORNEYS.

Watentedl A ert i9, 193% Q -UNITED STATES PATENT ()FFICE CONTAINER Louis 1', Toscano, BrooklymN. Y. Application January 22, 1937, Serial No. 121,803

5 Claims. (Cl. 22943) This invention relates to improvements in con- Referring to the drawing by reference chartainers, and more particularly to a cover therefor. acters, the numeral l designates my improved In the dispensing of foodstuffs or beverages in container in its entirety, and which includes a sealed cardboard containers having removable cylindrical body It having a bottom wall and o covers, difficulty is experienced inthe application being open at its top. The body ll may be conof the cover to the container body and later durstructed of cardboard which is so formed and ing its removal therefrom. This condition is treated as to be waterproof. However, the concaused by the absence of an air vent in the container may be of any other material or combinatainer, for upon application of the cover, air 'tions of material if desired.

must be expelled from within the container while Fitting over the open top of the body H is 10 a vacuum'condition within the container occurs a round cover l2. constructed of cardboard or like when an attempt is made to remove the cover. fibrous material and treated to be waterproof. Such conditionis annoying to the users of such The cover l2 includes a disk top wall ii, the pecardboard containers and sometimes results in riphery of which is rolled up and interlocked l5 spillage of the contents of the container. It is a with the inwardly rolled bead 14 provided on the 15 custom of users of such containers to overcome annular-depending side wall l5 and which side the above condition to puncture the cover by the wall is of a diameter to snugly telescope the exuse of an ice pick, fork, or other implement which terior of the side wall of the container-body ll.-' might be at hand, but such practice is not sani The top wall l3 of the cover I2 is provided tary, and often results in the punching of holes with. two opposed arcuate shaped slits lS-IS,

too large as to admit foreign matter into the conthere being relatively short uncut portions l'l-ll 20 tainer, permitting escape of the aromas of the therebetweemas best seen in Figure 3 of the container contents, and permitting leakage of drawing. The arcuate slits 16 are preferably disthe contents therefrom. posed axially of the disk top wall l3 and may be It is thereforaon'eloi the objects of this invenformed by means of a punch die which bends or 25 tion to provide an air-vent in the container cover punches inwardly, the material disposed inwardly which facilitates easezof application of the cover of the slits l8, the line of bend or fold being to the container body and of its removal thereparallelto an imaginary line drawn between the from, and which prevents the leakage of the conuncut portions l1-l|. The inwardly punched 3 tents and the aromas thereof from the container portions constitute two semi-circular shaped and the accidental entrance of foreign matter p |8l8 disposed in normally downwardly thereinto through the air vent. outwardly diverging relation, as best seen in Fi Another important feature of the invention is e ormally the flaps l8 j clear e walls I, to provide a multiple flap vent inthe paper cover of the openings l9 which pe n are ormed or a container to enable the free passage of air when the flaps ar pu h d i w y d in use from the container during the application'of the y a t t su ta t a y close the p nin cover and which causes the gradual closing of against the escape oi aromas or spillage of the the vent by the multipleilaps to maintain the contents from the container body, and P v aromas of the contents within the container and the acc denta e y of foreign a e o th 40 to prevent spillage of the contents should the container body.

same be'a liquid. In practice, assume that the cover I! is sep- Another feature of the invention resides in a arated from the container body II, and the concardboard container cover which includes a 'tainer is to be used in the dispensing of foodstufis shielded vent which may be formed therein duror beverages, be they hot or cold. The foodstuff mg formation of the cover without extra cost of or beverage is placed into the container body ll 45 manufacture. and the cover I2 applied over the open top there'- Other objects of the invention will be apparent of. By reason of the openings Iii-l9, any exas the followingspeciflcation is read in conjunccess air trapped .between the top of the cover tion with the accompanying drawing, in which: and the top of the contents of the container body Figure 1 is a perspective view of my improved as the cover is applied will be gradually exhausted 5 cardboard container. therethroug'h. By reason of the gradual exhaust Figure 2 is an enlarged detail vertical sectional. of the air within the container as the cover is view on the line 2-2 of Figure l. applied, and the accumulation of any gases with- Flgure 3 is a fragmentary top plan view of the in the container from the contents thereof, will 65 central portion of the removable cover. cause the flaps l8 to bend outwardly and assume a plane flush with the top wall l3, thus substantially closing the openings lS-IQ. This enables the cover to freely telescope the container body. Assume that the cover is to be removed from the container body, it is apparent that as the cover is moved outwardly, a vacuum occurs within the container causing the flaps to bend inwardly and permit atmospheric air to enter through the openings iO-IS, thus permitting free removal of the cover. As previouslystated, the flaps I 8-" act to shield the contents of the container against spillage and against the entry of foreign matter through the openings i9--l9, the said flaps acting more or less in the capacity of flap valves for the respective openings.

While I have shown and described what I consider to be the most practical embodiment of my invention, I wish it to be understood that such changes or modifications as come within the scope of the appended claims may be resorted to if desired without departing from the spirit of the invention; that the vent may be made such as to have one, two or any number of prongs desired.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is:-

1. A container comprising in combination, a body open at its top. a paper cover having an air vent in the top thereof, and means formed from the top of said cover and normally extending inwardly thereof for substantially closing said air vent upon application of said cover to said body.

2. A container comprising in combination, a body open at its top, a paper cover snugly telescoping the open top of said body and having an air vent opening punched inwardly through the top thereof, and closure means for said vent opening formed by the normally inwardly extending material displaced in the punching of the air vent opening.

3. A container comprising in combination a cylindrical body open at its top, a round paper cover snugly telescoping the open top of said cylindrical cover, and a flap punched inwardly from the top of said cover to form an air vent opening therein and a closure therefor.

.4. A container comprising in combination, a cylindrical body open at its top, a round paper cover snugly telescoping the open top of said cylindrical cover, a pair of flexible normally inwardly extending outwardly diverging flaps punched inwardly from the central portion of the top of said cover and providing air vent openings therein.

5. A removable cover for open containers comprising a paper diaphragm, a pair of flexible normally inwardly extending outwardly diverging flaps punched from said diaphragm to initially provide vent openings therein and to subsequently act to close said vent openings after application of the cover to a container.

LOUIS P. TOSCANO. 

